Ty the Dog

Without further ado, we would like to officially introduce to you the newest member of our household:

Ty, the dog

We found Ty largely by accident.  Ben is in love with all dogs, and Natalie likes them a fairly good deal.  They have been asking for months if we can get a dog, and putting it off until the weather warmed up, coupled with watching dog videos on YouTube and perusing pictures of dogs online, pacified them.  For awhile.  We went back and forth some about getting a grown dog versus a puppy.  I do not have the energy, patience, or spare time for a puppy given the amount of time the kids need (plus all of the other things we have going on).  So we started looking at the local shelter.  We figured a grown dog would have some skills (i.e. housebroken), and most importantly, we would know its' temperament, and if they would be good around the kids.

We had been keeping an eye on a coonhound we liked, and decided one morning to go for a visit.  As it turns out, sweet as she was, the Coonhound was not a good match for us.  She was very affectionate, but a little too high energy.  We knew we wanted a bigger dog, a dog that has some energy for outside play, but that is not intimidating to the kids and has some manners.  We met two other dogs before they brought in Ty to see us.  As soon as he came in the room, Ben went right up to him and patted him on the back.  He was our dog.  We had planned to come back for him in a few days, after we had some obligations out of the way, and some dog supplies on hand.  But after just a few hours of talking about it, Natalie could wait no more.  And back to the shelter we went.

Ty is an 8 year old Australian Cattle Dog.  He had been at the shelter since November, and was surrendered by his previous owners after they lost their home and could not take him to their apartment.  How sad.  It's clear they worked with him.  He LOVES to fetch, knows "sit" and "down" and will "stay" for a treat.  He is good with people, has no food aggression, is housebroken.  And most important of all, he's great with the kids.  He's a very sweet boy and we love having him around.

The kids are taking turns feeding him, Nat usually gets breakfast duty, and Ben does dinner.  They love to offer him treats, and brush him.  And he waits patiently while they try to heave his tennis ball for a fetch.

 finally, jacket weather!

Nat got another haircut...almost all even now!

the kids trying to convince Ty to come up into the treehouse

(he'll go up the steps, but won't go onto the platform.  yet.)

I think it's safe to say he's happy to be home with us, too.